Ever rising martial arts star Xie Miao (Eye for an Eye, Eye for an Eye 2), best known for his recent breakout hit, The Furious, will make his English-language debut in an upcoming martial arts actioner that’s being developed by Los Angeles-based Stars Collective.
The untitled project will pursue the bruising, realistic style of martial arts action seen in The Furious, and is designed to appeal to genre fans while building Xie’s standing as an international action lead (via Variety).
Peter Luo (Malignant), Wayne Wei Jiang (The Meg) and Wei Junzi (The Furious) are producing the project. Stars Collective co-CEO Nancy Xu (The Rip) will produce on behalf of the company. At this time, no director or additional cast members are attached to the project.
Xie Miao is remembered for his co-starring turns as a child martial arts prodigy in the Jet Li outings The New Legend of Shaolin and My Father is a Hero during the mid-1990’s. While he largely stayed off the radar in the succeeding years, he made a comeback in 2008 with the Tsui Siu-Ming directed Champions, a rousing tale set during the 1936 Olympics that was made off the back of Beijing hosting the event during the same year.
Since then, Miao has appeared onscreen regularly, and in the mid-2010’s found his calling as one of the go-to leading men (probably only rivalled by Fan Siu-Wong) for kung-fu web movies. In the 2020’s alone he’s already headlined 15 of them, and is one of the few actors who can claim to have played the iconic characters of Ip Man, Sun Wukong, and Na Zha (and all within just a few months of each other!). The Furious marked Miao’s most mainstream film and will presumably be his most viewed to date, which has opened doors for projects such as this one.
🔥 Footnote: Xie Miao’s The Furious has earned approximately $35 million internationally, led by China’s $30.4 million. Hong Kong, Indonesia, France, Malaysia and Germany have also chipped in. Add its $6.5 million North American gross, and the worldwide haul reaches roughly $41.5 million against a reported $20 million budget. Not bad for a good old fashioned martial arts flick…
Could Xie Miao be the next Jackie Chan, Jet Li or Donnie Yen? He certainly has potential, but those are some big shoes to fill. Learning more English could help open doors to Hollywood roles, international interviews and a much wider audience. The martial arts skills are already there, but becoming a global star takes more than throwing a good punch. Let’s see where he goes from here. We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.👇
We’ll keep you updated on this story as we learn more. Stay tuned!
He has the potential for sure but he needs a new name for the western market. 99/100 people who arent Chinese probably cant pronounce his name properly. Xie Miao can become Xi Mao, double the chairman power!
Jokes aside even if he did have those guys star power (which he arguably doesnt) the audience isnt there, at least not theatrically outside of China for a kungfu superstar anymore. Having said that, man’s been at it for 3 decades now, he deserves some of that Hollywood money. Just stay clear of the John Wick team; they already killed off Short Rounds second comeback and they’ve kept Donnie away from our screens for 2 years going on 3 now.